I HAD lived many years when first I met What men call Sorrow. I had long conceived A semblance of it, thought I had achieved That magnitude, when side by side I set My lonely days. I knew the alphabet Of Life's experience, and I believed That when I touched another's grief, I grieved; -- But when at last I was myself beset, I marvelled. Little had I known. They told Me and they showed me death, but finally, Like shifting clouds no foresight can explain, I felt the changeful years envelop me. I was not loath to meet at last with pain, But oh, to feel the youth my age could hold! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BETTER PART by MATTHEW ARNOLD CONTENTMENT, AFTER THE MANNER OF HORACE by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK: FIT 3. THE BAKER'S TALE by CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON THE DAY-DREAM: THE SLEEPING PALACE by ALFRED TENNYSON EPIGAEA ASLEEP by WILLIAM WHITMAN BAILEY THE SECOND BROTHER; AN UNFINISHED DRAMA by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES THE EVENING OF THE YEAR by MATHILDE BLIND |